This Stackable Emergency Shelter Can Be Assembled in Under 15 Minutes

MADWORKSHOP Fellows Jeremy Carman and Jayson Champlain have designed a unique approach to emergency post-disaster shelters. The 2017 Fellows of the MADWORKSHOP Foundation created “Shelter Squared” as a response to “the current scarcity of design-oriented solutions to emergencies.”

Overall, the design utilizes cost-effective, recyclable materials to provide a meaningful alternative to the current standard of post-disaster shelters, described the architects.

© MADWORKSHOP, Jeremy Carman anad Jayson Champlain

Shelter Squared offers an operable fabric enclosure, comfortable sleeping quarters, lockable storage and booth seating, all while only occupying a “modest 50 square feet.” The modular shelters can also combine with adjacent units to create a sense of community among units. The lightweight units can be easily stacked and stored on-site and take less than 15 minutes to assemble. Also waterproof for ease of maintenance, the shelters utilize Velcro connections to simplify assembly.

The shelters can be utilized in refuge spaces like gymnasiums in a post-disaster situation. Becuase of the ease of storage and assembly, the units can be distributed and personally assembled by the users themselves. The result is a community of individual pods efficiently crafted for easy use.

The project was made possible by the MADWORKSHOP Foundation. The Martin Architecture and Design Workshop (MADWORKSHOP) Foundation “supports technological craftsmanship in the arts and design” by aiming to make “radical, sustainable and lasting contributions to design discourse and society at large.”